A Special Garden

This garden in Ushiku, a city north east of Tokyo, has a big pond, waterfalls and small islands with pine trees. I've heard a garden has two types. One is to see its beauty in front from the one viewpoint, the other is to walk in it and enjoy view changes which would be brought from different viewpoints.

When I visit here in end October, cosmoses were at their best. Many foreign tourists from such as Mainland China, Thailand and Malaysia took pictures with smiles. 

They were receiving a warm autumn sunshine and swaying in the wind.

The big buddha was looking down at us. Many visitors got in a lift inside and went up to the lookout floor which had three oblong windows on its chest. 

This must be a very special view. I've never seen such big lotus petals.

Highland On A Sunny Day

 The clouds over the mountains were likely to bring snow. It didn't on this day.

 Reindeer enjoyed the warm sunshine. It is a only one deer, the nose is covered with hair against cold weather.

 A cow is having grass in front of the two fir trees.

Do they know the arrival of snow?

Uesugi Shrine and Apples in Yamagata

The harvest time came in October at Yamagata in the northern Japan.

 This was the first time for me to taste sweet apples in the orchard.

 I visited Uesugi shrine at Yonezawa.

The gate architecture is beautiful.

 A garden in the shrine area. You can see a small waterfall.

This is a typical Japanese old house.

Matsushima

 In Matsushima, you can see many small islands and rocks covered with pine trees. Long time ago, people in the Kyoto palace reading poems describing beautiful views of Matsushima yearned to visit here. 

 The splendor of this scenery had had a great and long influence on Japanese literature and beauty standards. Having seen many Japanese style gardens, I feel there are three important beauty factors: water, rocks and pine trees. Sometimes white sand was substituted for water.  Matsushima seems to have been a splendid model for garden designers. The left building seems to be positioned aiming at making this view more beautiful.

 The architecture is quite excellent. Every carpenters did their best for this.

The sea and the sky keep pine islands together.

Zuiganji Temple revisited 瑞严寺

 Zuiganji Temple built 400 years ago is one of the most popular view spots in the northern Japan. When I visited this temple 10 years ago, there were many big cedar trees both sides of this road. Their roots were covered with the seawater brought by the tsunami in 2011. 240 cedars were not able to overcome the salt damage and were cut down. Young cedars were planted after this damage.

The green moss was fortunately outside of the seawater coming in.  The color is very impressive.

 The seawater did not reach this gate. You can still see some big cedars standing. I enjoyed the atmosphere having been kept over centuries.

 This is inside of the temple filled with quietness.

 Roof tiles and white walls are beautiful under the autumn sunshine.

 This is a traditional rock garden. A group of moss is an island and the sand expresses the sea.

Preserved Machines Of Hitachi Copper Mine 日鑛紀念館

 This is an iron tower built above the first shaft to transport workers and copper pyrites. Hitachi mining company started excavating this shaft in 1906. It was used until 1981 for 75 years.　第一竪井

 This small electric train was used to carry them.

 This Japanese style house was a office. You can see this type gate in a Japanese garden or in a Ninja movie.　日式木造門，還能在台灣看到。

 This wooden house was built in 1918 to install a big compressor, which sent air to rock drills. This is a big gear wheel for a winch. 

 The belt between two wheels are amazingly big. 巨型壓縮機把空氣送到多數的鑿岩機。

This is the winch for the first shaft. The black motor before you was made by GM in the US.

Unexpected Time Slip

These shops were built at a turnpike travel center near Tokyo, based on an architecture 200 years ago. They sell foods in those days such as Kabayaki (broiled eel in soy sauce), Torinabe (chicken soup), Soba (buckwheat noodle) and variety of souvenirs. If some Ninja worked here and showed their skilled performance, I could be more satisfied. haha!

Trip to Ancient times: Jomon period 縄文時代

The archaeological research center held an exhibition.

 I joined a backyard tour to see Jomon earthenware made 3000 ~ 12000 years ago. When I see these vessels, I always feel the big difference between later Japanese designs we see in Kyoto and this Jomon.

 This was made 4000 years ago. The design is curious. Some says Jomon people shaped snakes on a vessel. Many ancient people around the world felt mysterious power in snakes.

 This must be a human face. Does he wear glasses?

 What is this? For a long time these earthen vessels were treated only as historical records to think about people's life at the time. Recently scholars have realized they are art . 

Do you know this instrument 2000 years ago? This is a fire maker.

This man pushes down the horizontal bar to revolve the perpendicular one. Revolving power is made with a wound string. A board on the floor is burned by friction heat. I tried it, too. It's not easy to make a fire.

Crossing A Wooden Bridge 我在炎熱的一天過了一條木造橋

We usually cross bridges made of steel and concrete. Do you remember when you crossed a wooden bridge by car?  10 years ago? 5 years? Just yesterday?! Really?

 This bridge is still sometimes used for inhabitants driving a car under some regal limitations of safety.  Two cars cannot pass each other on this. When a car finds another on it, the driver waits the other by the bridge.

I walked on the bridge imagining a rattling sound of planks made by a car.  Wooden bridges are nostalgic, keep pleasant remembrances of childhood. There is another wooden bridge up the stream, which was used to take a historical samurai TV drama. The location is quite suitable for such dramas because there are no modern houses, advertisement boards and utility poles near the bridge.

Really Cool and Refreshing Place Oiwajinja

A road in the cedar forest leads visitors up to Oiwajinja. It is said the peak of this mountain has a long history of mountain religion. Pieces of earthenware made more than 1500 years ago were excavated at ritual sites on the peak.  Anyway, I walked up hearing the sound of gravel under my shoes.

A cloud in the summer sky was surrounded by big cedars. This might be the same view ancient people got.

This is one of the biggest cedar. 

 Two giants in the red gate are watching visitors.

 This is the main building in the spiritual area.

Seeing Hydrangeas At Rakuhoji Temple 山寺绣球花

It was a quite sweltering day when I walked up long stone stairs to see hydrangeas. The parking lot down of the temple were heated by sunshine and hot asphalt. Going upward, I felt cooler and enjoyed blue, white and red flowers.

 The red gate welcomed visitors.

 Though this is small, the workmanship of the structures, sculptures and paintings is very exquisite. It must have taken a long time to complete the works.

 The second layer is round. I feel it is rare to see round structures by wood. Round leaves growing from the dragon pots are lotus.

 This new building is used for exhibition and meeting. The architecture fits with the mountain.